2026 APEC Energy Ministerial Meeting Joint Statement

Beijing, People’s Republic of China

1. We, the Energy Ministers of Member Economies of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), convened in Beijing, People’s Republic of China, on 10–11 September 2026, chaired by H.E. Wang Hongzhi, Administrator of National Energy Administration of the People’s Republic of China, under the theme “Forge an Innovative and Synergistic Asia-Pacific Energy Community for All”.

2. We recognize that the global energy landscape is undergoing complex and profound shifts, accelerated by evolving market conditions, rapid advancement of technology, and current energy disruptions. APEC Economies account for more than half of global energy demand, and volatility in global energy markets exerts substantial impacts on energy security and economic growth across the region. Guided by the APEC Putrajaya Vision 2040, we will work to build an open, dynamic, resilient, and peaceful Asia-Pacific community for the prosperity of all our people and future generations. Supporting the 2026 APEC theme of “Building an Asia-Pacific Community to Prosper Together” and noting other existing APEC frameworks, we will continue to promote energy cooperation among APEC economies. We remain committed to voluntary, non-binding, mutually agreed and consensus building principles for our cooperation, while respecting each economy’s domestic circumstances and priorities. We welcome prior and ongoing efforts to foster regional energy cooperation, including existing deliverables to enhance energy access, security, resilience, and hydrogen development.

3. We recognize conventional and zero and low emission energy sources and technologies provide a foundation for energy security, and strong and sustainable economic growth, and that each economy will choose an energy system mix consistent with its domestic priorities.

4. In addressing shared regional energy challenges, we aim to work cooperatively towards a future-oriented Asia-Pacific energy community that strengthens energy security, elevates living standards, improves productivity, encourages innovation, and delivers shared benefits for all. To that end, we encourage member economies to deepen cooperation—including sharing policy experiences and best practices, bolstering capacity building for energy development and coordinating between producer and consumer economies, so as to promote universal access to high-quality energy, mutual enhancement of artificial intelligence (AI) and energy, and energy security synergy.

5. APEC member economies are continuing to focus beyond “have or have not” energy access to prioritizing high-quality energy, so that no one is left behind. We endorse the Vision and Proposed Actions on Universal Access to High-Quality Energy in APEC. We will pursue cooperation to enhance energy abundance, system resilience, and service coverage, promote energy supplies that deliver benefits to all, including households, MSMEs, Indigenous Peoples where appropriate, and support off-grid and microgrid solutions to improve energy access for rural and remote communities. APEC members recognize access to clean cooking as a regional challenge, and encourage a technology-neutral and merit-based approach to supporting clean cooking solutions. We welcome efforts to promote the development of high-quality energy that brings tangible benefits to all people across the APEC region.

6. We recognize that the integration of AI and energy systems has become a key driver of innovative, efficient and resilient energy development. We reaffirm the importance of deepening voluntary cooperation on “AI+Energy”. We endorse the APEC Policy Recommendations on the Mutual Enhancement Between AI and Energy in the Asia-Pacific, and instruct the EWG to establish the Task Force on the Mutual Enhancement of AI and Energy. We encourage member economies to strengthen cooperation on coordinated planning and development of energy and computing infrastructure, so as to provide a reliable and resilient energy foundation for AI advancement. We encourage dialogue and exchange of best practices to promote the secure and trusted deployment of digital technology and AI in the energy sector, and enable technological innovation to empower energy systems across the Asia-Pacific region.

7. We recognize that emerging digital technologies are being increasingly integrated into the power sector, helping reshape energy systems in the Asia-Pacific region. We encourage member economies to advance the AI-enabled development of power systems, and to enhance capabilities related to situational awareness, operational monitoring, coordinated dispatch, regulation for flexible operation, and other digital energy solutions where appropriate. We support member economies in strengthening exchanges and cooperation in areas related to digital grid development, lowering barriers to technology application, and enabling the benefits of digital transformation to be shared more broadly across member economies while managing associated risks and ensuring cybersecurity.

8. We recognize that strengthening regional cooperation to jointly safeguard regional energy security and resilience is increasingly important given the impacts of energy market volatility. We endorse the APEC Non-binding Principles for Promoting Energy Security Synergy to assist pragmatic energy security cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region. We recognize the benefits of emergency cooperation, energy system diversification, infrastructure interconnections, secure and uninterrupted energy flows, and timely restoration of critical energy infrastructure, including power plants, electrical grids, submarine power cables and pipelines. We encourage practical cooperation to strengthen energy supply chain resilience, including on topics such as voluntary timely non-sensitive information-sharing, risk assessment, strategic reserve management, cybersecurity, and physical resilience of critical energy infrastructure, while avoiding detriment to and duplication of existing mechanisms, to pursue greater policy synergy and multi-stakeholder participation among member economies. Through deepened regional synergy, we seek to strengthen comprehensive security across all energy sectors and technologies, jointly address energy security challenges, ensuring uninterrupted, reliable, affordable and sustainable access to modern energy, to support economic prosperity together.

9. Energy demand continues to grow across the Asia-Pacific region, driven by broader electrification and the rapid growth of emerging technologies and applications, such as artificial intelligence, data centers, and electric vehicles (EVs). We recognize that innovative energy systems are essential to support economic growth across the region. We further note that the share of renewable energy continues to increase in the APEC region, influencing the structure and operation of power systems, and that load-balancing technologies (e.g. batteries) and conventional energy (e.g. fossil fuels) continue to provide firm support for system stability. We encourage member economies to explore pathways for development of next-generation power systems, to meet rising energy demand, as well as to maintain grid reliability through adequate firm power capacity, flexible and dispatchable resources and storage in a technology-neutral manner. This includes fostering cross-fora initiatives among the relevant APEC fora and among international stakeholders to enable economies to advance their domestic energy targets.

10. We advocate for the synergistic development of energy supply and consumption to establish an energy system featuring a broad and resilient mix of energy sources and diversified supply channels. We encourage balanced energy development through timely and appropriate investments.

11. We encourage member economies to strengthen diversified energy technology portfolios and explore various development pathways with innovative thinking. By respecting intellectual property protections and effective enforcement mechanisms, we encourage increased investment in technology, business models, and management innovation. To the extent consistent with domestic investment review, we support joint research, development and commercial demonstration of viable emerging technologies that accelerate the deployment of advanced energy solutions. We also seek to foster practical exchange of experience and cooperation as appropriate on technical standards.

12. We encourage energy-related trade and investment, consistent with domestic legal frameworks and security considerations, including cross-border flows of energy products, technologies, equipment and services that is voluntary and on mutually agreed terms. We reaffirm our commitment to maintain resilient supply chains, particularly to essential goods, such as energy products and critical downstream derivatives. We recognize that it is in our mutual interest that our region remains interconnected and trade corridors remain open, to facilitate trade flows, including energy supplies and other essential goods. With respect to critical minerals essential for energy technologies, we support secure, sustainable and resilient supply chains, considering local value addition in relevant trade and investment activities. We encourage member economies to strengthen policy dialogue and note the role of market-based instruments, such as power market design, energy attribute certificates and standards recognition, in effectively guiding the development of the energy sector by stabilizing markets, optimizing resource allocation and improving energy accessibility and affordability. We encourage member economies to exchange experiences on market mechanisms, lower barriers to energy-related trade, continuously refine energy institutional design, elevate energy governance efficiency, enhance policy guidance, and optimize the efficiency of regulatory frameworks, to foster strong and sustainable economic growth.

13. We encourage APEC member economies to strengthen capacity building through expanded policy dialogue, training programs, and workshops. We also support the voluntary sharing of knowledge and experience on mutually agreed terms, as well as exchanges of technology and expertise, to help enhance institutional and technical capabilities, develop local skills, and foster broader stakeholder participation. We note the successful one-week APEC Advanced Training Program for Leading Professionals in August, and welcome more capacity-building training opportunities for member economies.

14. We note the progress and on-going work towards APEC’s collective energy goals of doubling the share of renewable energy in the regional energy mix from 2010 levels by 2030, and reducing energy intensity by 45 percent from 2005 levels by 2035, while recognizing that economies may pursue these goals through diverse pathways in line with their domestic circumstances and priorities.

15. We express our appreciation to the Energy Working Group (EWG) and its subsidiary bodies, including two research bodies, four expert groups and one task force, for their contributions. We recognize the APEC Sustainable Energy Center’s (APSEC) support to the EWG on urban energy development and advanced technology promotion, and encourage further efforts to continue advancing research and cooperation on energy innovation and development. We further recognize the Asia Pacific Energy Research Centre’s (APERC) support to the EWG, including the energy outlooks, policy analysis, data management, modeling and statistics training, and oil and gas security exercises, and encourage further efforts to support economies’ preparedness for energy disruptions.

16. We express our gratitude to the People’s Republic of China for hosting the 16th Energy Ministerial Meeting.